SR114

WHEREAS, in 2004, then First Circuit Judge Steven Alm and the Probation Section Administrator Cheryl Inouye launched Hawaii Opportunity Probation with Enforcement ("HOPE") to address high rates of recidivism among sex offenders, domestic violence offenders, drug users, and other probationers at high risk of recidivating; and

WHEREAS, in regular probation no action is typically taken immediately after a probation violation, and the probation officer has total discretion on how to handle any given violation and when to refer a case back to the judge for action; and

WHEREAS, regular probation typically allows multiple violations to occur before any consequences are imposed, and consequences are imposed months after violations occur, which may appear to probationers to be entirely unpredictable and subjective; and

WHEREAS, HOPE was designed to effect behavioral change in a supportive environment created by the probation officer and the judge that teaches participants to correlate poor choices with negative consequences by imposing swift, predictable, and immediate sanctions on a consistent basis in the form of a few days in jail for lower level violations such as drug use or missed appointments with a probation officer and tougher sanctions for higher level violations such as being terminated from treatment; and

WHEREAS, in addition to reinforcing the behavioral change process, HOPE also provides a mechanism by which offenders who present a risk to the public can be immediately removed from the community, such as in the case of a child molester caught frequenting a youth arcade; and

WHEREAS, according to a 2007 through 2008 evaluation by Pepperdine University and UCLA, First Circuit HOPE probationers at their one-year follow up were fifty-five percent less likely to be arrested for a new crime, seventy-two percent less likely to test positive for illegal drugs, sixty-one percent less likely to skip appointments with their probation officer, and fifty-three percent less likely to have their probation revoked when compared to offenders on regular probation; and

WHEREAS, the research showed that women in HOPE failed at probation and were sent to prison fifty percent less often than women in regular probation, and Native Hawaiian women failed at probation and were sent to prison forty-two percent less often, even though HOPE probationers overall spent no more time in jail than those on regular probation; and

WHEREAS, long-term positive outcomes for HOPE participants include fewer arrests for new crimes, fewer crime victims, fewer multi-year prison sentences, sustained abstinence from alcohol and drugs, improved health, reduced criminal recidivism, greater employments and income, and ultimately an improved quality of life; and

WHEREAS, for state and local communities, these outcome result in reduced crime, reduced need for imprisonments, reduced costs to the criminal justice system, and increase in the number of working individuals who pay taxes and the repayment of court-ordered restitution for victims; and

WHEREAS, one judge can effectively supervise more than two thousand felony HOPE probationers at the same time to ensure that violations are heard and decided on a timely and consistent basis; and

WHEREAS, this level of timeliness and consistency resulted in overall greater "buy-in" from, and greater outcomes for, participants; and

WHEREAS, new HOPE cases are interspersed amongst the existing caseloads of nine judges, which has led to widespread, inconsistent decisions and a much higher percentage of HOPE participants being re-sentenced to multi-year prison sentences than before 2020; and

WHEREAS, current HOPE probationers are no longer receiving the swift, predictable, and immediate sanctions upon which HOPE was built, as violations are being allowed to accumulate until the probationer absconds, is arrested on a bench warrant, or a revocations hearing is set, and many are then sent to prison; and

WHEREAS, criminal justice system policy should be based on proven and relevant data and research; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, that in judicial circuits of five hundred thousand or more residents, the Judiciary is urged to return to implementing HOPE the way it was conceived and implemented from 2004 to 2020, by assigning one judge and one back-up judge to handle all HOPE cases; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the HOPE judge and back-up judge, while always retaining discretion and always providing encouragement and support to probationers, are strongly urged to follow the HOPE sanctions guidelines to ensure consistency and hear cases in an expedited and timely manner; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Adult Client Services Branch of the First Circuit is urged to follow HOPE procedures as implemented from 2004 to 2020, including by focusing on the higher risk offenders as identified by a validating risk assessment instrument and by taking immediate action when probationers violate; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the Chief Justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Judiciary; HOPE Program; Implementation; Judges

THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	114
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
STATE OF HAWAII